No, whether he plays only in passing situations holds little importance Hall, a rookie cornerback who suffered a small fracture in his hip during an Aug. 28 preseason win over Cincinnati.

He hasn't played or practiced since.

"Man, I just want to be out there competing," Hall said Monday afternoon.

"At first, we thought I would come back in time for the San Diego game, but they wanted me to wait another week."

Hall won the starting job at left corner after participating in his first mini-camp five months ago. The NFL's eighth overall draft choice, Hall hopes to practice when players reconvene Wednesday to install Atlanta's game plan for the Chiefs.

Before the Falcons' 21-20 victory Sunday over San Diego, general manager Rich McKay indicated that Hall's timetable had moved up. A recently as last Wednesday, the team thought Hall probably wouldn't debut until the first game following a bye week - Nov. 14, when Tampa Bay visits the Georgia Dome.

"I've been running for a month and I haven't had any pain for a long time," Hall said. "They took an X-ray about four weeks ago, and the fracture was healed."

The Falcons (5-1) rank seventh in total defense, first in rushing, 21st in passing and third in scoring. They likely will face the Chiefs (1-4) without Aaron Beasley, who hurt his right foot as he broke up a third-down pass at the 3 on the Chargers' final drive.

Beasley started on the right side for the second straight week with a sore knee limiting Jason Webster. Against San Diego, Webster took no more than 15 snaps.

Two days after a single-car accident damaged his shoulder and knee, defensive tackle Rod Coleman returned to team headquarters to watch tape of the Chargers' game.

Coleman declined to answer questions regarding the wreck that caused him to stay home in bed Sunday. He added that it was too early to speculate whether he can practice this week and play against Kansas City.

Coleman, who received a $10 million signing bonus when he left Oakland as a free agent in March, has four sacks, three forced fumbles, one fumble recovery and 22 tackles. His Atlanta-based agent, Pat Dye Jr., didn't return a phone call Monday.

Mora, adding that he didn't know when or where the accident occurred, said team trainers treated Coleman's wounds.

SUBHEAD:More aches and pains

Rookie Chad Lavalais, who started in place of Coleman, hopes a broken left hand won't sideline him this week. The former LSU standout pointed in the direction of starting strong-side linebacker Matt Stewart, who has played the last four games with a cast on his broken thumb.

"If they'll let him play, I hope they'll let me play," Lavalais said.

* Mora indicated that an injury played no part in running back Warrick Dunn's departure after the second possession of the third quarter, but the eighth-year running back said a sore hamstring affected his play. Dunn also missed most of the second half of a win at Carolina three weeks ago with a similar injury.

T.J. Duckett replaced him both times.

SUBHEAD:Take that

Though his team had only a one-point lead with two minutes remaining, Mora removed the headset he uses to communicate with other Atlanta coaches. He also told running backs coach Ollie Wilson to do the same.

"You saw that? It was nothing," Mora said. "(The Chargers) were out of timeouts, and that made it easier for me to talk to some of our players."

SUBHEAD:Honor roll

Mora gave game balls on offense to quarterback Michael Vick, on defense to linebacker Keith Brooking and on special teams to punter Chris Mohr.

Vick completed 5 of 5 passes for 130 yards and one touchdown and, prior to kneeling down three straight plays to run out the clock, rushed four times for 32 yards and one touchdown.

Brooking had his first interception since Nov. 24, 2002 at Carolina.

Coaches credited him with six tackles and one pass defensed.

Mohr punted five times for a net average of 39.2 yards as his teammates downed three balls inside the 20.